Tarpaulins, or tarps, have been in use for many years now, and still have a wide variety of uses today. Originating as tarred canvas sheets used by sailors to cover ships, tarps have evolved into many different shapes, sizes, strengths and qualities. Today's tarps are usually coated in polyethylene, latex, or some other weather-resistant coating.
Landscapers frequently use tarps to collect leaves and yard debris (tree branches, cuttings from bushes and the like) to be hauled away for disposal. In this same line of business, tarps may be used to cover and protect shrubs and trees as they are transported from a nursery to a planting location.
While most today's tarps include a series of grommets along their ends to add in “tying down” a load on a bed of a truck, the tarp itself remains clumsy to maneuver when working on a landscaping site.